Members of the Citu-led clerks union and the Intuc unit of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) were suspended on Wednesday on charges of organising a demonstration during office hours at the civic body’s headquarters on SN Banerjee Road. The suspended trade union leaders include the president and the secretary of the clerks’ union, Dipankar Chakravorty and Ajoy Banerjee, respectively, and the Intuc president and secretary, Hrishikesh Roy and Tushar Bhattacharaya, respectively. Five other leaders of the two unions were showcaused. The clerks’ union has called a special meeting on Thursday, before announcing their next protest programme.

Bijoy Krishna Bhattacharya, a former senior clerk in Howrah Orthopaedic Hospital, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and fined Rs 35,000 on Wednesday. He was convicted of misusing power under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The second special judge of Howrah district court said if the convict failed to pay the fine, he would face another six months’ imprisonment. Bhattacharya was arrested by the CBI in 1986.

Abdul Bari, a former minister of state for education, died at SSKM Hospital on Wednesday morning. He had been suffering from cancer and was hospitalised last Tuesday. He was 73. The body was taken to Writers’ Buildings, the Assembly and the CPM headquarters before being sent to Murshidabad, his home district.

Six persons were sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment and charged a fine of Rs 500 each on Wednesday. Sanjay Singh, Nirmal Das, Sushil Gupta, Bajrang Singh, Arvind Singh and Baiju Singh were convicted of robbing Flyking Courier Services of Rs 3 lakh on October 4, 2001, in the city sessions court.

Ramakrishna Mukherjee of Serampore and Uttam Bhowmick of Jadavpur were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly helping a fraud. Samar Lahiri was arrested a week ago for cheating the income tax department of Rs 6 lakh. Lahiri, a lawyer, had forged documents and claimed income tax refunds for three years.

The All Bengal Students Action Forum has called a 12-hour strike at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday to protest the state government’s decision to charge capitation fee and increased tuition fees for MBBS. The forum will meet on Thursday to decide when a general strike in all state hospitals will be called.

South Calcutta Trekkers Association has organised a condolence meeting for its former president Onkar Krishna Majumdar. The meeting will be held on July 10 at Asutosh Memorial Hall, near Hazra crossing, at 6 pm.